Dakota wrestler Josh Alber tries to protect history

Thirty-four area Class 1A wrestlers are in Champaign this weekend trying to win a state title.

One is trying not to lose his place in history.

Dakota senior Josh Alber is in both an exalted and uncomfortable position. Three wrestlers are expected Saturday to join the 11 before them who have won four state titles. But only one of them - Alber - has won every high school match he's ever wrestled.

Alber, in effect, "finished" with a perfect record the minute he beat the two other soon-to-be four-time champs, Class 3A stars Johnny Jimenez and Jered Cortez, a week apart in December.

"After the Cortez match, it was pure joy," Alber said. "But the second half of the year has been tough for me, really nerve-wracking. Just one move and I could screw it all up. I've basically just been avoiding disaster. Once it's all over, it's going to be just a huge relief."

Even a fourth state title won't end the wait. No. 1-ranked Dakota has a possible four matches remaining next week in the dual team state tournament series. Both Gilbert and Williams suffered their only loss as freshmen in the dual team sectional.

That's a long wait for something Alber has been thinking about for four years.

"After I made it through the first two years undefeated, I figured I was halfway there," Alber said. "I didn't see myself losing."

No one does. So nothing he does now can possibly impress anyone. Not after beating Cortez, the No. 1-ranked 132-pounder in the nation at the time, in the Dvorak Tournament at Harlem.

"I've struggled with that," Alber said. "I won 15-3 in the finals in sectionals and some people took that as a loss for me because I went the full match. It's tough, but I've had a lot better mindset. Last year, that would have really bothered me. Now, I'm just trying to enjoy it."

Josh Alber, who has also been invited to the March 16 Dapper Dan event, where Pennsylvania's best wrestlers take on the nation's best, has won so easily and for so long that you can sometimes take him for granted. His biggest noise has not come at the state tournament, but rather a regular-season win over three-time state champ J.J. Whaley of Stillman Valley and his two Dvorak title wins as underdogs over Jimenez, whom he beat again in a dual this year, and Cortez.

"That means the most to me," Alber said. "Being in 1A, I have to fight for respect. Knowing I have beaten two of the best wrestlers in Illinois history speaks for itself."

That was the last big statement Josh Alber could make on a wrestling mat this year. The state individual and team tournaments are simply two last chances for someone else to say Josh Alber isn't the greatest Class 1A wrestler ever.

Josh Alber, though, can't say anything new. He can only make sure no one else says anything. For two more weeks. Then, at last, he can celebrate history that was four years in the making.

"It's amazing that I've gotten to sit through this," said Dakota coach Pete Alber, Josh's uncle and a former state champ himself. "I feel blessed. How many people get to do that?

"It's hard to comprehend. And the thing that's best about it is he's not just a Single-A kid. He's beat the best."